Nature

There have been a lot of changes in the past year. It’s been interesting to see how Wink’s and Finn’s absence have been telegraphed through our little wild kingdom.

One of the most noticeable differences is in the number of birds that now feel comfortable in much closer proximity to our house.

When Wink and Finn were here, pretty much zero came inside our fence. Just this afternoon, there were several that I could single out by sight and sound, … Read More

At a time when life’s uncertainties abound, I am reminded of the strength and healing of nature through the imagery in this poem.

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of

When the temps start fluctuating, I can count on hearing the ice on my pond sing. I don’t know why, but I seem to be the only one who ever hears it. It doesn’t happen all the time. It doesn’t even happen often. But when it does, it’s magical.

To hear what my pond sounds like to me, listen at 00:40 seconds.

Longtime readers of this blog know that there has been a fair amount of animal loss over the last few years. Wink is our last man standing. And when it’s his time to join his animal family on the other side, I’m not sure I will be ready to go right back to adding more animals.

It’s been decades and decades since I’ve lived without animals. While the joy they’ve provided me is immeasurable, I think I want to have … Read More

The things I think about…

I’ve had to do some work recently that’s required looking at maps, which got me thinking about how map land sizes can be skewed. Which got me thinking about the times I’ve flown over oceans and couldn’t fathom their size, which got me thinking about how perception changes based on context. And then I got to thinking about how much land vs how much ocean… Well, you can see the rabbit hole I went … Read More